"Actor: Mady Christians"

• Phantom/Die Finanzen Des Großherzogs | DVD | (19/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Two Films by F.W. Murnau. After filming the landmark Nosferatu the silent cinema's master innovator F. W. Murnau demonstrated the reach of his genre versatility with a pair of films that explored the dimensions of the psychodrama and the adventure-programmer. All the Murnau characteristics are present: a vibrant naturalism exquisite imagery passages of dreamlike revery and an atmosphere redolent with romantic longing. In Phantom an aspiring poet on the verge of what he takes for a big break experiences a chance encounter with a beautiful woman in the street - and falls headlong into love and fantasy. With debts piling up and his promised literary celebrity failing to materialise the poet descends into obsession deception and ultimately a criminal act in this delirious film that stands as an early precursor of Hitchcock's Vertigo. Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs sees Murnau exploiting the Mediterranean clime to film the tale of a rakish duke whose lifestyle has dried up his noble coffers. When word arrives about the existence of valuable sulphur deposits on his tiny duchy of Abacco a comic adventure of high-seas intrigue animal impersonators and the Crown Princess of Russia unreels at a sprightly pace. Max Schreck (the mythic actor behind the makeup of Nosferatu's Count Orlok two years earlier) appears in a supporting role in what might be Murnau's nimblest effort.

• Shirley Temple: The Collection | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.39

  A collection of classic Shirley Temple films! Heidi (1937) When her aunt tires of caring for her orphan Heidi is taken into the Swiss mountains to live with her gruff grandfather (Jean Hersholt) a hermit who comes to adore her. But the aunt returns to steal Heidi away selling her to a family whose invalid daughter (Marcia Mae Jones) needs a companion. Bullied by an evil governess (Mary Nash) Heidi still charms the entire household and never stops trying to returnito her

• Letter From An Unknown Woman | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In turn of the century Vienna a dashing man arrives at his flat instructing his manservant that he will leave before morning: the man is Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) formerly a concert pianist planning to leave Vienna to avoid a duel. His servant gives him a letter from an unknown woman. In the letter he experiences the lifelong passion of Lisa Berndle for him: first as a girl who was his neighbor; next as a young woman who in secret has his child; then as a mature woman who meets him again and abandons husband and son to be with him. Each time he does not remember who she is or that they have ever met. By morning he has finished the letter and her husband awaits satisfaction..... This haunting tale is perhaps cinema's greatest unrequited love story and is considered to be one of Ophuls' great masterpieces.

• Heidi | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £8.59   |  Saving you £4.40 (51.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Shirley Temple in a role that seems custom-made for her portrays the spirited young heroine of the popular children's novel giving her rich emotional depth and infinite charm. When her Aunt tires of caring for her orphan Heidi is taken into the Swiss mountains to live with her gruff Grandfather (Jean Hersholt) a hermit who comes to adore her. But the Aunt returns to steal Heidi away selling her to a family whose invalid daughter (Marcia Mae Jones) needs a companion. Bullied by an evil governess (Mary Nash) Heidi still charms the entire household and never stops trying to return to her beloved Grandfather.